Florida State’s defense struggled over the most brutal part of the schedule in the past few weeks. The ‘Noles entered the game hoping to turn their fortunes around and keep the bowl streak alive.
In the earlygoings, the defense was flying to the ball, especially some of the young players in the secondary. Asante Samuel Jr. and Stanford Samuels III played particularly well in run support and FSU needed the extra help against the Eagles, who were known to be run heavy with star back AJ Dillon.
The secondary was rewarded for their early work with an interception by safety Hamsah Nasirildeen, who returned for FSU this week after injuring his knee against NC State and playing limited minutes against Notre Dame.